Marriage amendment: Election judges' reminders criticized

Officials are investigating reports of election judges at several locations improperly reminding voters about their votes on Minnesota's proposed marriage amendment.

As many as 20 complaints were reported to officials in Ramsey and Washington counties as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, Nov. 6.

What the judges had been telling voters is true -- that a failure to vote on the marriage amendment has the same effect as a "no" vote. That's because for an amendment to pass, it must receive a "yes" vote from the majority of everyone voting on Election Day, not just a majority of those voting on the amendment.

But the polling place reminders have been interpreted by some voters as a ploy to increase the chances of the amendment passing.

The amendment would define marriage as a union of one man and one woman -- excluding homosexual marriages.

Harland Hiemstra of St. Paul Park was voting in the city council chambers, when he saw a sign on an election judge's table.

Hiemstra said it reminded voters that there were two amendment issues on the ballot, and failure to vote "Yes" or 'No" on them counted as a "No" vote. The other amendment would require identification from people wishing to vote.

"It was on an 8.5-by-11-inch piece of paper in a plastic protector," he said. Hiemstra also said that sign amounts to last-minute electioneering. "That is supposed to stop at the polling place door. It could influence the election.

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Joe Mansky, Ramsey County elections manager, said his office has received about 10 complaints.

He suspects that most of the advice was an innocent mistake -- since the reminders only repeated what was written on the ballot.

"I don't expect to see any removal or discipline (of judges). I think we have some folks who are a little overzealous, that's all," Mansky said.

Between five and 10 cases have been reported to Jennifer Wagenius, Washington County director of property records and taxpayer services. The complaints came from several precincts.

"It seems to be a hot topic," Wagenius said.

She called it a "fine line" that officials must observe, when asked by voters for instructions about voting.

The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office had no tally of complaints made statewide. But spokeswoman Pat Turgeon said the office has received similar reports.

In such cases, Turgeon said, "There should be nothing for election judges to explain orally about the constitutional amendments... If voters ask about the proposed amendments, election judges should point to this language without any further explanation to avoid influencing how the voter votes."

An official with Minnesotans United for All Families, the lead group opposing the amendment, said the campaign had heard about the issue and understood the Secretary of State's Office was following up with county elections officials.

Autumn Leva, spokeswoman for Minnesota for Marriage, the main group supporting the marriage amendment, said the campaign hadn't heard of election judges offering reminders and had no involvement in it.

Meanwhile, in Dakota County, a "prayer for marriage" letter distributed by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was posted within a few yards of a voting site inside a West St. Paul church building.

A voter at St. Joseph's Catholic Church off Butler Avenue snapped a picture of the prayer letter Tuesday, which supported marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and posted it on a social media website.

The letter-style prayer, posted in a display case, was removed within a couple of hours, said both an archdiocese spokesman and a county election official.

"The fact that it was up in this location was a simple oversight," said Jim Accurso, spokesman for the archdiocese.

Andy Lokken, manager of elections and vital statistics for Dakota County, said the county received at least one complaint about the paper, which prompted the city to make sure it was removed.

"Little things like that aren't going to invalidate the election in that precinct," Lokken said.

She and election officials did find a kiosk about 92 feet from the polls that contained a flier about marriage being between a man and a woman and moved it more than 100 feet away, as dictated by election law.